The Colombian peso Tuesday appreciated to its strongest level in 13 months as investors showed more appetite for the country’s assets.
The Colombian peso ended at 1,920.50 to the U.S. dollar from COP1,933 on Monday. The peso hadn’t closed that strong since Aug. 28, 2008, when it ended at COP1,920.
“The dollar worries the government,” Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga said Tuesday. “This is a world trend, there is a clear rising level of confidence in world markets that leads to a weaker dollar,” he added.
The strong peso makes Colombian exporters less competitive, he said.
David Santos, a market analyst with local brokerage Serfinco, said local as well as foreign investors are more eager to buy risky assets such as Colombian bonds and stocks.
The yield on the benchmark peso-denominated government bond maturing in 2020 fell to 9.235% from 9.256% on Monday. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
The Colombian benchmark IGBC stock index gained 0.6% to 10,911.94 points.
Shares of state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA rose to 1.7% to COP2,710.
Shares of Colombian holding company Colinversiones SA gained 4% to COP40,000 after it said it was discussing the possibility to invest in the majority stake owned by Spain’s Gas Natural SA in power company Empresa de Energia del Pacifico SA.
Shares of state-controlled Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota SA, or ETB, fell 14% to COP1,005 after a local court ordered the company to suspend temporarily the process of seeking a controlling partner. (Dow Jones)